Apparatus for draining railroad refrigerator cars



April 4, 395% H. K. BLANNING 9 APPARATUS FOR DRAINING RAILROAD REFRIGERATOR c Rs Filed May 25, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 i Q 29 i 29 I PAL 1 1 2/37 I 32G?- INVENTOR.

April 4, 1950 H. K. BLANNING 2,502,698

APPARATUS FOR DRAINING RAILROAD REFRIGERATOR CARS Filed May 25, 1948 s sheets-sheet 2 A riil 4, 11954) H, K, B N NG. gamma APPARATUS FOR DRAINING RAILROAD REFRIGERATOR CARS 4 Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT ore-ice APPARATUS FOR; DRAINING RAILR'GAD REFRIGERATOR CARS Harry K..Bla-n-ni'ng, Chicago, 111.

Application May'25, 1948-, Serial-N0. 29,010

1 Claim. 1.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for draining the coolant or brine tanks of. railroad refrigerator cars, and particularly to a. valve. and valve operating mechanism for performing-: this function.

A. principal object of this invention is to provid'ev a. valve and valve operating mechanism whereby'thev valve maybe opened or closed by an operator positioned on the roof of a refrigerator car. The men performing such re-icing operation do so fromtheroof of the car where the ice bunker doors are located.

Often when cars are re-iced in transit, only a portion of the. accumulated brine, suflicient to provide some space for additional ice, will be removed- With conventional devices it is necessary for two men to perform this operation, one man on the ground to operate the valve, and a second man on the roof of the car to observe the liquid level. Even if all the coolant is to be drained off, it is necessary that a man climb oii' and on the car from the roof where the re-icing is done to the ground where access to the valve can be. obtained. Therefore, ability to operate such valves from the roof of the car saves the time and trouble which would otherwise be required for a worker to descend from the car each time the valve is to be opened or closed.

Further objects and advantages of the invention include: a. valve, simple in operation, that has a minimum number of moving parts; a valve which is so constructed that there is no danger of. the valve freezing from the action of brine on the parts thereof; a valve which will be unaffected by the cinders, dirt, and sludge which inevitably become. lodged in the coolant tanks of a refrigerator car because of the conditions of service under which the car must operate; a valve which will provide a tight seal against the loss of coolant even after considerable wear has occurred as a result of continued use of the valve;

a valve in which only a single part is subject to Fig. 1. is: an elevational section of the end of a refrigerator car, showing the coolant tanks and the valve formed integrally with the drain header for the tanks;

Fig- 2.is a section taken at line 2 -2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a. section taken at line 33 of Fig. 2-;

Fig; 4 is a section takenat line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section of the ball used in the valve;

Fig. 6 is a View corresponding to that of Fig. 2, with the valve and operating mechanism positioned outside the end wall of the refrigerator car and constructed as a unit apart from the drain header;

Fig. '7 is a section of the valve shown in Fig. 6, with the portion above the break rotated at 90 from the assembled condition shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the guide cap for the valve shown in Figs. 6 and 7;

Fig. 9 is a transverse section of the operating rod of the valve taken at line 9"9 of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the latch for the valve shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

The present application is a continuation in part of my prior application, Serial No. 756,530, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, to the extent that it is not inconsistent herewith.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the inside of the end of a refrigerator car in which are installed four, spaced, brine tanks It, H, I8 and [9, each of which has a drain 2! communicating with a common drain header 22. The tanks are supported from the sides of the car by means of longitudinal channel's 23 and angle irons 24. Blocks 2'6 support' the head'er from the floor of the car and straps 2! maintain the header 22 in alignment under drains 2 I.

A hatch 28 in the roof of the car provides access totanks I5 and H, which are open at the top so that. the ice or other coolant may be inserted therein. Deflectors 29' prevent the coolant from being spilled about the sides of the tanks, and a channel 3! fitted over the adjacent sides of tanks I6 and f1 prevents the. spill of the coolant benel 31- and fit over the outside of the two ends of the tanks, as shown in Fig. 2, to assist-in maintaining the position of the channel with respect to the tanks. The foregoing description of the hatch and related construction is duplicated for tanks l8 and l9.

Hatch 28 will be closed by means of a hinged cover, not shown, of conventional construction, and having means by which the hatch cover may be sealed in a closed position. Details of suitable hatch cover construction may be found in Car Builders Cyclopedia, 1946 edition, page 160 et seq.

Immediately below the space between tanks I6 and I1 a pipe flange 33 is welded to the top of drain header 22, and a second pipe flange 34 is welded to the bottom of the drain header. A pipe 36 forming a guide is attached to flange 33 by means of a bushing 31 and projects upwardly in the space between tanks l6 and H. The upper end of guide 36 terminates and is held in an openin 38 in channel 3|, as is shown in Fig. 3.

The details of the valve construction are best shown in Fig. 4. What may be termed a valve seat body 39 is threaded into bottom flange 34 and is formed with an internal, tapered, valve seat 4|. The valve seat 4| has the shape of a frustum of a cone; and for th purpose of convenience I have designated this shape as frustoconical.

Preferably the angle between opposite faces of the seat is approximately 40. I have found that the use of an angle of 40 provides positive seat in of the ball as hereinafter described, and yet the ball is not wedged so tightly in the seat that it cannot be removed therefrom. A further advantage of the use of this angle is that it is steeper than th angle of repose of any dirt, cinders, or other sediment that may become deposited in the tank, and thus such sediment will not become lodged on the face of the valve seat to impair operation of the valve.

The closure for the valve is made in the form of a ball 42, preferably made of gum composition rubber of approximately 40 durometer hardness. Using a ball 2% inches in diameter, the diameters of the conical valve seat 4|, as measured across the parallel planes which define the frustum of the cone, may be 2%.;- inches at the base of the frustum and 1% inches at the top of the frustum.

The ball is moved in and out of engagement with the valve seat by means of a lifter rod 43. As is seen in Fig. 5, the ball 42 is held on the lifter rod between dished compression washers 44 engaged between nuts 46 and 41 threaded onto rod 43. In attaching the ball it may be compressed out of shape to some extent by tightening nuts 45 and 41 toward each other, which resultant configuration may be referred to as semispherical. A look nut 48 may be jammed up against nut 41 to prevent the latter from being jarred loose.

A handle is attached to the upper end of rod 43 (Fig. 3), which handle is formed with downwardly turned legs 52 which are spaced so as to slip outside the side flanges of channel 3|. When the ball" is to be in seated position (Fig. 4) the legs 52 of handle 5| are placed parallel to the sides of channel 3|, and the handle will then drop downwardly unti1 th ball becomes seated, as is shown in full lines in Fig. 3. When the valve is to be opened, the handle 5| is lifted and rotated 90, whereupon legs 52 of the handle will rest on the web of channel 3| to hold the valve open, which position is shown in dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3.

Valve seat body 39 is extended below the frame of the car, as shown in Fig. 2, and is there provided with a hexagonal-shaped head 53 to facilitate ripping it with a wrench. A threaded por- 4 tion 54 is formed on the lower end of body 39 to receive a tail pipe 56 sufficiently long that the discharge from the brine tanks will be elected at a point where it will not come into contact with the car body or running gear.

Figs. 6 through 10 inclusive are illustrative of a form of a valve used when it is to be installed outside the end of the car. Such an installation is of particular value where the valve is to be substituted for another on a previously constructed car. Where the refrigerator car is one that has been built some time ago, it would be laborious and expensive to replace the existing construction with the form of valve shown in Figs. 1 through 5 inclusive. However, by merely making th necessary connections to the line from the drain header it is a simple matter to install a valve embodying my invention outside the end of the car.

Fig. 6 again illustrates one of the four coolant tanks, the drains 2| of which are connected by a common drain header 22. A drain line 6| from the drain header is brought outside the end wall 62 of the refrigerator car where it terminates in a valve body, generally designated 63. Threaded into the bottom of valve body 63 is a valve seat body 64 having a frusto-conical valve seat 4|, previously described. A tail pipe 56 is attached to the bottom of the valve seat body 64.

The upper end of the valve body 63 is extended to form a chamber 65, into which the ball 42 may be raised to permit a full flow of coolant throughout the valve. Thi is of value to facilitate the draining of the tanks as rapidly as possible when they are to be re-iced, with a resulting minimum amount of delay before additional ice may be added.

In the top wall of chamber 65 a bushing 61 is threaded into body 63, and a guide 68 is in turn threaded into the bushing. In the wall of valve body 63, diametrically opposite the end of pipe 6|, is a threaded opening 69 through which a suitable implement may be inserted to clean out pip 6|. The opening is provided with a threaded plug H to normally prevent the flow of coolant through the opening 69.

A lifter rod 12 is inserted through guide 68 and has the lower end threaded for the mounting of ball 42 engaged between dished compression washers 44 by nuts 46, 41, and 48, as previously described. The upper end of lifter rod 12 is provided with a crosspiece 13 which serves as a handle for the operation of the valve. Along two sides of the upper end of lifter rod 12 and diametrically opposite each other are a pair of ribs 14, which serve both to strengthen the upper portion of the rod and also to align the rod and handle, as hereinafter described.

At the upper end of guide 68 is a cap 16, the end of which is provided with a circular, central, opening 11, which opening has two side notches T8 to accommodate ribs 14 of lifter rod 72. In attaching the cap 16 to the guide 68 the notches T8 are aligned normal to end 62 of the car in order that handle 13 will be positioned parallel to the end of the car by ribs 14. This positioning is of importance because it greatly diminishes the possibility of injury to railroad personnel working on or about the car, which might otherwise result from their bumping the projecting handle or catching it in portions of their wearing apparel.

The top face of the cap 16 has two pairs of raised lips 19 which will be parallel to the end of the car when the cap is in place. When lifter rod '32 is raised to the extent that ball 42 is within opening 65 of valve body 63, the bottom of ribs M on the lifter rod will be slightly above the top of lips 79, which will allow the handle '13 to be rotated 90. If the handle is now released, the ribs 14 will fit between lips 79 and rest on the upper face of cap 16. The lips serve to hold the handle in that position until it is desired to again close the valve, which may be accomplished by raising the handle so that the bottom of the ribs M are above the top of the lips l9, thus permitting the handle to again be rotated 90 so that the ribs will slip down through notches iii in the cap.

A latch 8! is pivotly mounted by means of pin 82 to a bracket 83 clamped to guide 68 by means of a bolt 84. The latch is provided with a pair of spaced openings 86 and 81, and the lower opening 36 is adjusted so that the latch will just slip over one end of handle i3 when the ball a2 is seated in the valve seat 56, as is shown in full lines in Fig. 7. This adjustment may be obtained by loosening bolt 8d holding bracket 83 and sliding the bracket up or down guide 68 until the proper position is obtained, whereupon the bolt 84 may be re-tightened. As has been previously explained, the portion of Fig. '7 above the break has been rotated 90 from the actual position in Fig. 6 to better illustrate that portion of the valve mechanism.

If the handle 13 is raised so that it will slip into upper opening 8'! in latch 8!, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7, the valve will be positioned in a partially opened condition. It is often necessary during the winter months to leave the valve slightly open to assure that it will not freeze closed. The latch will hold the valve in this condition and eliminate tampering with it.

A transverse slot 88 is formed in one end of handle 73 to permit the insertion of a seal 89 after the handle has been latched in the closed or partially opened position. The ability to seal the valve in the desired position prevents tampering with the valve, except at such times as authorized personnel are desirous of changing the position thereof. The same result is achieved with the embodiment shown in Figs. 1-5 by sealing the hatch cover, which will prevent access to handle 5| of the valve. When the car is to be re-iced, the authorized personnel may break the seal to change the position of the valve, if that is found to be necessary. After the re-icing procedure is completed or the valve reset, the latch may again be slipped over the handle at the desired position of the valve and a new seal inserted through opening 88 in the handle.

I claim:

For use in refrigerator cars having a plurality of brine tanks to which access is had through one or more hatchways in the roof of the car, and connected below the lowermost portions thereof by a drain header having relatively flat top and bottom walls and located within the confines of the car body, the combination therewith of a drain valve for the header comprising a guide column located adjacent to one of said tanks and communicating at the top with one of said hatchways and at the bottom with the header through an opening in the top wall thereof, a fitting secured to the top wall of the header for supporting the lower end of said column over said top wall aperture, a second fitting secured to the lower wall of the header about an aperture in said lower wall directly below the first opening, a tubular valve seat body detachably connected to said second fitting and having a frustoconical valve seat, said body providing an open passage from the header to the exterior of the car, a valve rod in the guide column having a handle projecting into the adjacent hatchway and carrying a resilient valve member at its lower end adapted to cooperate with said valve seat to close said passage in the valve seat body when the valve rod is in its lowered position, and means for supporting said rod in its raised position.

HARRY K. BLANNING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 392,539 Christian Nov. 6, 1888 1,824,175 Schulis Sept. 22, 1931 1,943,979 Lundvall Jan. 16, 1934 2,068,401 Dromgold Jan. 19, 1937 

